{"data":{"id":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-40-40-1-201","jurisdiction":"us-ok","citation":"Okla. Stat. tit. 40, § 40-1-201","heading":"General definitions","body":"\n\nGENERAL DEFINITIONS. As used in the Employment Security Act of\n\n1980:\n\n1. \"Additional initial claim\" means a claim application which\n\nreactivates a claim during an existing benefit year and certifies to\n\na period of employment which occurred subsequent to the date of the\n\nfiling of the last initial, additional, or reopened claim;\n\n2. \"Alternative base period\" means the most recent four (4)\n\ncompleted calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of\n\nan individual's benefit year. In the event that an individual's\n\nclaim uses an alternative base period to meet the wage requirement\n\nunder Section 2-207 of this title, this alternative base period\n\nshall be substituted for base period for all other purposes under\n\nthe Employment Security Act of 1980;\n\n3. \"Assigned tax rate\" means the tax rate assigned to an\n\nemployer pursuant to Section 3-110.1 of this title when the employer\n\ndoes not have sufficient experience history to meet the At-Risk Rule\n\nset out in paragraph 3 of Section 3-110.1 of this title;\n\n4. \"Base period\" means the first four (4) of the last five (5)\n\ncompleted calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of\n\nan individual's benefit year;\n\n5. \"Benefit year\" with respect to any individual means the one-\n\nyear period beginning with the first day of the first week with\n\nrespect to which the individual first files a valid claim for\n\nbenefits and thereafter the one-year period beginning with the first\n\nday of the first week with respect to which the individual next\n\nfiles a valid claim for benefits after the termination of his or her\n\nlast preceding benefit year. Any claim for benefits shall be deemed\n\na valid claim for the purpose of this section if the individual has\n\nbeen paid the wages for insured work required under the Employment\n\nSecurity Act of 1980;\n\n6. \"Benefit wages\" means the taxable wages earned by a claimant\n\nduring the claimant's base period which are not in excess of the\n\ncurrent maximum weekly benefit amount, as determined under Section\n\n2-104 of this title, multiplied by the maximum number of weeks for\n\nwhich benefits could be paid to any individual pursuant to Section\n\n2-106 of this title, multiplied by three (3); provided, however, no\n\nwages shall be included as benefit wages unless and until the\n\nclaimant has been paid benefits for five (5) weeks in one (1)\n\nbenefit year;\n\n7. \"Benefits\" means the money payments payable to an individual\n\nas provided in the Employment Security Act of 1980 with respect to\n\nhis or her unemployment, including extended benefits. The federal\n\nshare of such extended benefits shall not be construed as benefits\n\nfor the purposes of computing contribution rates under the\n\nEmployment Security Act of 1980;\n\n8. \"Calendar quarter\" means the period of three (3) consecutive\n\ncalendar months ending on March 31, June 30, September 30, or\n\nDecember 31, or the equivalent thereof as the Commission may by\n\nregulation prescribe;\n\n9. \"Client\" shall have the same meaning as provided in\n\nparagraph 1 of Section 600.2 of this title;\n\n10. \"Coemployer\" shall have the same meaning as provided in\n\nparagraph 2 of Section 600.2 of this title;\n\n11. \"Coemployment relationship\" shall have the same meaning as\n\nprovided in paragraph 3 of Section 600.2 of this title;\n\n12. \"Commission\" means the Oklahoma Employment Security\n\nCommission;\n\n13. \"Commissioner\" means a member of the Commission;\n\n14. \"Continued claim series\" means an uninterrupted series of\n\nweekly claims filed by a claimant during the benefit year;\n\n15. \"Contributions\" means the money payments, including taxes\n\nand reimbursements, required by the Employment Security Act of 1980\n\nto be paid into the Unemployment Compensation Fund by an employer;\n\n16. \"Covered employee\" shall have the same meaning as provided\n\nin paragraph 5 of Section 600.2 of this title;\n\n17. \"Digital portal filing\" means electronic communication\nant during the benefit year;\n\n15. \"Contributions\" means the money payments, including taxes\n\nand reimbursements, required by the Employment Security Act of 1980\n\nto be paid into the Unemployment Compensation Fund by an employer;\n\n16. \"Covered employee\" shall have the same meaning as provided\n\nin paragraph 5 of Section 600.2 of this title;\n\n17. \"Digital portal filing\" means electronic communication\n\nthrough the agency digital portal;\n\n18. \"Earned tax rate\" means the tax rate calculated for an\n\nemployer with sufficient experience history to meet the At-Risk Rule\n\nset out in paragraph 3 of Section 3-110.1 of this title, with the\n\ntax rate calculated pursuant to the provisions of Section 3-101 et\n\nseq. of this title;\n\n19. \"Electronic e-filing\" means filing by email or fax to\n\nemail;\n\n20. \"Eligibility period\" of an individual for extended benefits\n\nmeans the period consisting of the weeks in his or her benefit year,\n\nas defined by the Employment Security Act of 1980, which begin in an\n\nextended benefit period and, if his or her benefit year ends within\n\nsuch extended benefit period, any weeks thereafter which begin in\n\nsuch extended benefit period;\n\n21. \"Employer\" shall have the same meaning as provided in\n\nSection 1-208 of this title;\n\n22. \"Employing unit\" means any individual or type of\n\norganization, including any partnership, association, trust, estate,\n\njoint stock company, insurance company, limited liability company or\n\ncorporation, whether domestic or foreign, or the receiver, trustee\n\nin bankruptcy, trustee or successor thereof, or the legal\n\nrepresentative of a deceased person, which has or subsequent to\n\nJanuary 1, 1936, had in its employ one or more individuals\n\nperforming services for it within this state;\n\n23. \"Employment\" shall have the same meaning as provided in\n\nSection 1-210 of this title;\n\n24. \"Employment office\" means a free public employment office\n\nor branch thereof operated by this or any other state as a part of a\n\nstate-controlled system of public employment offices or by a federal\n\nagency charged with the administration of an unemployment\n\ncompensation program or free public employment offices;\n\n25. \"Employment Security Administration Fund\" means the fund\n\nestablished in Section 4-602 of this title from which administration\n\nexpenses under the Employment Security Act of 1980 shall be paid;\n\n26. \"Exhaustee\" shall have the same meaning as provided in\n\nSection 2-712 of this title;\n\n27. \"Experience period\" means the most recent twelve (12)\n\nconsecutive completed calendar quarters occurring before July 1 of\n\nthe year immediately preceding the year for which the employer's\n\ncontribution rate is being calculated;\n\n28. \"Extended base period\" means the four (4) quarters prior to\n\nthe claimant's base period. These four (4) quarters may be\n\nsubstituted for base period quarters on a quarter-by-quarter basis\n\nto establish a valid claim regardless of whether the wages have been\n\nused to establish a prior claim, except any wages earned that would\n\nrender the Commission out of compliance with applicable federal law\n\nshall be excluded if used in a prior claim;\n\n29. \"Extended benefit period\" shall have the same meaning as\n\nprovided in Section 2-703 of this title;\n\n30. \"File\", \"files\", or \"filed\" shall have the same meaning as\n\nprovided in Section 1-224 of this title;\n\n31. \"Mail\", \"mails\", \"mailed\", or \"mailing\" means communication\n\nsent by a postal service with sufficient postage;\n\n32. \"Foreign limited liability company\" shall be defined by the\n\nprovisions of the Oklahoma Limited Liability Company Act;\n\n33. \"Fund\" means the Unemployment Compensation Fund established\n\nin Section 3-601 of this title;\n\n34. \"Hospital\" means any hospital required to be licensed under\n\nthe Oklahoma Public Health Code, Section 1-101 et seq. of Title 63\n\nof the Oklahoma Statutes, and includes state mental hospitals and\n\nany other mental hospital or institution;\nprovisions of the Oklahoma Limited Liability Company Act;\n\n33. \"Fund\" means the Unemployment Compensation Fund established\n\nin Section 3-601 of this title;\n\n34. \"Hospital\" means any hospital required to be licensed under\n\nthe Oklahoma Public Health Code, Section 1-101 et seq. of Title 63\n\nof the Oklahoma Statutes, and includes state mental hospitals and\n\nany other mental hospital or institution;\n\n35. \"Initial claim\" means a new claim application submitted by\n\na claimant to establish a benefit year for unemployment insurance\n\nbenefits;\n\n36. \"Institution of higher education\" shall have the same\n\nmeaning as provided in Section 1-214 of this title;\n\n37. \"Insured work\" means employment for employers as defined by\n\nthe Employment Security Act of 1980;\n\n38. \"Lessor employing unit\" means any independently established\n\nbusiness entity which engages in the business of providing leased\n\nemployees to any other employer, individual, organization,\n\npartnership, corporation, or other legal entity, referred to herein\n\nas a client lessee;\n\n39. \"Limited liability company\" shall be defined by the\n\nprovisions of the Oklahoma Limited Liability Company Act;\n\n40. \"Probationary period\" means a period of time set forth in\n\nan established probationary plan, which applies to all employees or\n\na specific group of employees, and does not exceed ninety (90)\n\ncalendar days from the first day a new employee begins work;\n\n41. \"Professional Employer Organization\" or \"PEO\" means an\n\norganization that is subject to the Oklahoma Professional Employer\n\nOrganization Recognition and Registration Act and which meets the\n\ndefinition set out in paragraph 9 of Section 600.2 of this title;\n\n42. \"Rate of insured employment\" shall have the same meaning as\n\nprovided in Section 2-708 of this title;\n\n43. \"Regular benefits\" means benefits payable to an individual\n\nunder the Employment Security Act of 1980, or under any other state\n\nlaw including dependents' allowances and benefits payable to federal\n\ncivilian employees;\n\n44. \"Reopened claim\" means a claim application which\n\nreactivates a claim during an existing benefit year when a claimant\n\nstopped filing for benefits before his or her claim was exhausted,\n\nbut in which there occurred no intervening employment from the date\n\nof the filing of the last initial, additional, or reopened claim;\n\n45. \"State\" includes, in addition to the states of the United\n\nStates of America, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of\n\nPuerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands;\n\n46. \"State law\" means the unemployment insurance law of any\n\nstate, approved by the Secretary of Labor of the United States under\n\nSection 3304 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954;\n\n47. \"Supplemental unemployment benefit plan\" means a plan that\n\nprovides for an employer to make payments to its employees during a\n\npermanent or temporary layoff that will supplement unemployment\n\nbenefits received by the employees. The purpose of a supplemental\n\nunemployment benefit plan is to allow an employer to sustain the\n\npurchasing power of its employees or former employees during a\n\nlayoff;\n\n48. \"Taxable wages\" means the wages paid to an individual with\n\nrespect to employment during a calendar year for services covered by\n\nthe Employment Security Act of 1980 or other state unemployment\n\ncompensation acts which shall equal the applicable percentage of the\n\nstate's average annual wage for the second preceding calendar year\n\nas determined by the Commission, rounded to the nearest multiple of\n\nOne Hundred Dollars ($100.00);\n\n49. \"Wages\" shall have the same meaning as provided in Section\n\n1-218 of this title;\n\n50. \"Wages paid\" means wages actually paid to the worker;\n\nprovided, however, that in the event of any distribution of an\n\nemployer's assets through insolvency, receivership, composition,\n\nassignment for the benefit of creditors, or termination of business,\n\nwages earned but not actually paid shall be considered as paid; and\nshall have the same meaning as provided in Section\n\n1-218 of this title;\n\n50. \"Wages paid\" means wages actually paid to the worker;\n\nprovided, however, that in the event of any distribution of an\n\nemployer's assets through insolvency, receivership, composition,\n\nassignment for the benefit of creditors, or termination of business,\n\nwages earned but not actually paid shall be considered as paid; and\n\n51. \"Week\" means such period of seven (7) consecutive days, as\n\nthe Commission may by regulation prescribe.","path":["OK Code","Title 40"],"source_url":"https://www.oklegislature.gov/OK_Statutes/CompleteTitles/os40.pdf","current_through":"2026-08-14","vintage":"open-us-law v2026.08, retrieved 2026-09-14","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T18:32:36Z","sha256":"107431b3eb1050b7ade39e446c950a96698b33a6ccba21e5ade71797d618a13c","source_id":"us-ok","stale":false,"prev":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-40-40-1-109","next":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-40-40-1-202.1"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}